Europe

Inserm is a partner of the CommHERE project financed by the European Union (FP7) that gets together communications professionals belonging to 10 entities from 7 different European countries researching into health.

The objective is to improve the communication of the results of health research supported by the EU to the European media and public. To do this, the Inserm press office provides researchers working on European health projects coordinated by Inserm with tools and resources, distribution and translation means coordinated jointly by the countries participating in CommHERE.

AgedBrainSYSBIO – Systems biology of pathways involving brain ageing
The AgedBrainSYSBIO project combines integrative systems biology and comparative genomics for studying human brain ageing and/or most common age-related diseases with a special emphasis on late-onset Alzheimer Disease for identifying and validating new molecular targets and biomarkers.
http://www.agedbrainsysbio.eu/BIOMARGIN – Biomarkers of renal graft injuries in kidney allograft recipients
In renal allograft recipients, 10-year graft survival has not improved over the past decades. Biopsy has long been the gold standard to confirm graft injuries, but biopsies are invasive. The goal of Biomargin project is to develop non-invasive methods (identification of biomarkers) to predict and diagnose graft lesions, to improve patient treatment and long-term graft survival.

EPICE – Effective Perinatal Intensive Care
The EPICE project is dedicated to the medical care of extremely preterm babies born before 32 weeks of pregnancy, in eleven European countries. The aim of the project is to assess practices in order to improve health care, since these children run a greater long-term risk of mortality and neurological problems than full-term babies.
www.epiceproject.eu

FIGHT-MG – Fight Myasthenia Gravis
Myasthenia is a rare neuromuscular disease that affects the neuromuscular junction and causes abnormal serious muscle weakness in different skeletal muscles. The FIGHT-MG project aims at determining the genetic and environmental risk factors linked with the illness and with its development. The project is also aimed at identifying the key molecules involved in the outbreak of the disease, developing new diagnostic tests and finding new therapies.

FLORINASH – MicroFLORa In Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis
The FLORINASH project proposes an innovatory research concept aimed at determining the part played by the intestinal microflora in chronic liver disorders known as non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases. These pathologies are the result of metabolic disorders that are becoming more and more frequent.

HOMAGE – Heart OMics in AGEing
The project HOMAGE aims to identify and validate specific biomarkers of heart failure in order to prevent the development of the disease affecting elderly population. The project will use an innovative ‘omic-based’ approach which investigating simultaneously a huge amount of genes, proteins and metabolites.
www.homage-hf.eu

INNOVALIV – INNOvative strategies for treatment of metabolic LIVer diseases
The aim of the INNOVALIV project is to develop innovatory strategies such as customized cell therapies to create human hepatocytes for the treatment of metabolic liver diseases. The project explores the potential of human embryonic stem cells (hES). These cells could be capable of generating sufficient quantities of functional human hepatocytes for future clinical applications.

KIEKIDS – Absence epilepsy in KIDS
The KIEKIDS project is setting up a clinical study with the aim of developing a pediatric medication formula to treat epileptic absences in children. The project has got together a consortium of industrial, academical and hospital partners specializing in the development of medication.

MEDALL – MEchanisms of the Development of ALLergy
The MEDALL project aims at collecting new knowledge about the mechanisms that cause allergies between early childhood and young adulthood in order to propose early diagnosis, prevention and therapeutic targets. A new definition of allergy disorder phenotypes and an integrative approach will help in understanding complex allergic phenotypes.

http://medall-fp7.eu/

METACARDIS – Metagenomics in Cardiometabolic Diseases
METACARDIS aims to study the role of the gut microbiota in the development of cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs). Researchers will work together to translate the results obtained with novel CMD diagnosis and treatment methods and pave the way for personalized medicine in CMDs.

MYOAGE – Human age-related muscle weakness
The MOYAGE project aims at understanding and fighting age-related muscle weakness. The objective of the project is to identify the molecular mechanisms that cause muscle weakness, in order to develop therapeutic strategies to help prevent muscle loss and improve recovery after being immobilized.

RDCVF – Rod-derived Cone Viability Factor
The RDCVF project is an abbreviation for Rod-derived Cone Viability Factor protein, a protein that is involved in the therapeutic strategy to fight degenerative retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. This protein is capable of protecting the photoreceptor cones of the retina, but also of preserving their functionality, thus offering a major therapeutic potential.

REBORNE – REgenerating BOne
The REBORNE project aims at developing new biomaterials that stimulate regrowth of bone tissue in order to correct bone regeneration defects after orthopedic and maxillo-facial surgery. Biomaterials, combined with stem cells, are interesting alternatives to biological grafts.

SCR&TOX – Stem Cells for Relevant Efficient Extended and Normalized TOXicology
Early identification of the toxicity of components used in new products before they are commercialized (chemicals, cosmetics and medication) is essential. The aim of the SCR&TOX project is to test new methods of rapidly identifying toxic components, by working with pluripotent stem cells.

SEtTREND – Schistosoma Epigenetics – Targets, REgulation, New Drugs
Schistomiasis (or bilharziasis) is a human parasitic disease caused by worms that mostly affects populations exposed to polluted water. The aim of the SEtTREND project is to develop new drugs to treat the disease by identifying new targets, in particular the enzymes that control the gene expression.

SUPPORT IRDiRC – Support of the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium
The mission of IRDiRC is to coordinate and foster international collaborative research on rare diseases, with the objectives of developing 200 new therapies and producing diagnostic tools for a majority of rare disease by 2020. The objective of SUPPORT-IRDiRC is to provide organisational and communication support for the consortium IRDiRC.

TINN – Treat Infections in NeoNates
The aim of the TINN project is to assess the efficiency of ciprofloxacin and fluconazole in neonatal babies, in particular in preterm babies. The project will study the advantages and the side effects of the formulae of these two anti-infectious products once they have been adapted to newly-borns.

TINN 2 – Treat Infections in NeoNates 2
The aim of the TINN 2 project is to assess the effect of azithromycin in newly-borns. Azithromycin is an antibiotic used in broncho-pulmonary diseases, but this therapeutic field has never been specifically assessed in newly-borns, in particular preterm babies. The TINN 2 project follows the same protocols as the TINN project as regards the ethics of including newly-borns in these tests (i.e. the aspects of pain, stress and parental consent).

The AgedBrainSYSBIO project combines integrative systems biology and comparative genomics for studying human brain ageing and/or most common age-related diseases with a special emphasis on late-onset Alzheimer Disease for identifying and validating new molecular targets and biomarkers. http://www.agedbrainsysbio.eu/

(Anti-Parasitic Drug Discovery in Epigenetics) The international consortium A-PARADDISE aims to extensively test innovative treatments against four neglected parasitic diseases: schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and malaria. The researchers share the objective of developing new treatments against the parasites that cause these diseases. The A-PARADDISE project is based on a methodology developed in a previous project, of similar scale (SEtTReND), to develop drugs against schistosomiasis. http://a-paraddise.cebio.org/

In renal allograft recipients, 10-year graft survival has not improved over the past decades. Biopsy has long been the gold standard to confirm graft injuries, but biopsies are invasive. The goal of Biomargin project is to develop non-invasive methods (identification of biomarkers) to predict and diagnose graft lesions, to improve patient treatment and long-term graft survival.

The EPICE project is dedicated to the medical care of extremely preterm babies born before 32 weeks of pregnancy, in eleven European countries. The aim of the project is to assess practices in order to improve health care, since these children run a greater long-term risk of mortality and neurological problems than full-term babies. www.epiceproject.eu

The European research project EUCelLEX involves describing the current situation regarding the application of European rules concerning cell banks, which are essential for the development of regenerative medicine, and current practice concerning the therapeutic use of human cells in several European countries, in both the private and public sectors. The objective is to provide the facts to the European Commission, thus enabling legislative measures to be drawn up that are consistent with medical advances in this area. https://www.eucellex.eu/

(Targeting cardiac fibrosis for heart failure treatment) Heart failure is a serious illness, since it is often irreversible, and an estimated 6.5 million people are affected in Europe. The European research project FIBRO-TARGETSproposes an innovative approach favouring the early detection of cardiac abnormalities by means of markers of myocardial interstitial fibrosis. The objective is to actually identify those mechanisms likely to become targets for therapeutic intervention in this condition, which causes heart failure.http://www.fibrotargets.eu/

The FLORINASH project proposes an innovatory research concept aimed at determining the part played by the intestinal microflora in chronic liver disorders known as non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases. These pathologies are the result of metabolic disorders that are becoming more and more frequent. http://www.florinash.org/

The project HOMAGE aims to identify and validate specific biomarkers of heart failure in order to prevent the development of the disease affecting elderly population. The project will use an innovative ‘omic-based’ approach which investigating simultaneously a huge amount of genes, proteins and metabolites.www.homage-hf.eu

The aim of the INNOVALIV project is to develop innovatory strategies such as customized cell therapies to create human hepatocytes for the treatment of metabolic liver diseases. The project explores the potential of human embryonic stem cells (hES). These cells could be capable of generating sufficient quantities of functional human hepatocytes for future clinical applications. http://www.innovaliv.eu/

The ITECH research project is aimed at developing a strategic European plan for developing and using health-related technologies, under the Horizon 2020 programme. It is particularly aimed at making an inventory of the structures and tools that encourage research, innovation, and commercial development regarding health technologies in the different European countries. It must also design a model to describe the different phases of developing an innovation, from research to commercialisation, while taking existing impediments into account.http://www.itech-project.eu/

The KIEKIDS project is setting up a clinical study with the aim of developing a pediatric medication formula to treat epileptic absences in children. The project has got together a consortium of industrial, academical and hospital partners specializing in the development of medication.http://www.kiekids.eu/

The MEDALL project aims at collecting new knowledge about the mechanisms that cause allergies between early childhood and young adulthood in order to propose early diagnosis, prevention and therapeutic targets. A new definition of allergy disorder phenotypes and an integrative approach will help in understanding complex allergic phenotypes. http://medall-fp7.eu/

METACARDIS aims to study the role of the gut microbiota in the development of cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs). Researchers will work together to translate the results obtained with novel CMD diagnosis and treatment methods and pave the way for personalized medicine in CMDs. http://www.metacardis.eu/

(Point of care – Hepatitis virus C) The European project PoC-HCV is aimed at applying data generated by the SPHINX project, which has helped to identify key biomarkers in the selection of management options for patients with hepatitis C. The objective of the PoC-HCV consortium is to enable the compilation and analysis of data collected in places of care, especially through the use of predictive algorithms, both to improve diagnosis and improve surveillance of patients receiving treatment. The development of these “point of care” tests should contribute to the development of personalised care.http://www.poc-hcv.eu/

The REBORNE project aims at developing new biomaterials that stimulate regrowth of bone tissue in order to correct bone regeneration defects after orthopedic and maxillo-facial surgery. Biomaterials, combined with stem cells, are interesting alternatives to biological grafts. http://www.reborne.org/

Early identification of the toxicity of components used in new products before they are commercialized (chemicals, cosmetics and medication) is essential. The aim of the SCR&TOX project is to test new methods of rapidly identifying toxic components, by working with pluripotent stem cells. http://www.scrtox.eu/

The mission of IRDiRC is to coordinate and foster international collaborative research on rare diseases, with the objectives of developing 200 new therapies and producing diagnostic tools for a majority of rare disease by 2020. The objective of SUPPORT-IRDiRC is to provide organisational and communication support for the consortium IRDiRC.http://www.irdirc.org/

The aim of the TINN 2 project is to assess the effect of azithromycin in newly-borns. Azithromycin is an antibiotic used in broncho-pulmonary diseases, but this therapeutic field has never been specifically assessed in newly-borns, in particular preterm babies. The TINN 2 project follows the same protocols as the TINN project as regards the ethics of including newly-borns in these tests (i.e. the aspects of pain, stress and parental consent). http://tinn2-project.org/